The Dhaka University Central Students' Union (DUCSU) election was held on September 9. In the election, candidates from the “United Student Alliance,” backed by Islami Chhatra Shibir, won nine out of the positions, including VP, GS, AGS, and nine of the twelve editor posts. However, allegations of vote rigging led to the rejection of the results by VP candidates Abidul Islam Khan from Chhatra Dal and independent candidate Umama Fatema. On the same day, at 2:21 PM, a Facebook page named Kathergella published a post claiming that a member of the Dhaka College unit of Chhatra Shibir named Tahmid Bin Saif was arrested for attempting to commit vote fraud during the DUCSU election.

The post included a screenshot from a video aired by the daily Jugantor, showing a suspect being detained in Shahbagh. The detained person is clearly visible in the image. The post asserted that the individual shown was Tahmid Bin Saif. Additionally, it featured three screenshots from Saif’s Facebook profile that indicated his association with Islami Chhatra Shibir.

Fact-check

The Rumor Scanner team’s investigation found that the claim regarding the arrest of a Dhaka College Chhatra Shibir member named Tahmid Bin Saif for attempted vote fraud during the DUCSU election is false. In reality, the person detained in Shahbagh during the election was identified as Salman, a student of the University of Scholars.

The team first located the original video from the daily Jugantor used in the widely shared post. A review of the footage confirmed that neither the name nor identity of the detained person was mentioned in the video.

Subsequent review of Tahmid Bin Saif’s Facebook account revealed two videos uploaded on September 9 at 3:13 PM and 3:40 PM. He addressed the claim posted by the Kathergella page regarding his alleged arrest. In the videos, he clarified that he was not the person arrested in Shahbagh and stated there was no connection between him and the detained individual. He further added that while he is affiliated with the Narayanganj city unit of Islami Chhatra Shibir, he is not associated with the Dhaka College unit. He also mentioned that he was currently residing in his home district of Narayanganj, not in Dhaka.

A facial comparison between Tahmid Bin Saif and the individual detained in Shahbagh also revealed clear differences in appearance. Further investigation into the detainee’s identity, using keyword searches, led to reports published on the websites of Daily Amar Desh and Ajker Protidin. These reports identified the detained individual as Salman, who stated that he is a student of the University of Scholars.

According to these reports, Salman claimed he had been on campus for two days. On the day in question, he went to Nilkhet to photocopy and print some necessary documents. While trying to re-enter the campus through the Nilkhet point, inconsistencies in his information raised suspicions. The university’s proctorial team asked him to show identification. At that time, he attempted to use another student’s ID card and claimed to be a relative of DUCSU election candidate Rakib Gazi. He was subsequently handed over to Shahbagh police station.

Rakib Hossain Gazi was a candidate from the Chhatra Odhikar Parishad panel for the position of Secretary of Health and Environment in the DUCSU election.

Although several other media outlets also covered Salman’s detention, they did not disclose his name or the candidate’s name in their reports.

In conclusion, Salman was not detained for vote rigging, nor does he have any connection to Tahmid Bin Saif, the Dhaka College student. Therefore, the claim that a Dhaka College Chhatra Shibir member named Tahmid Bin Saif was arrested for attempting vote fraud in the DUCSU election is entirely false.

Source: https://rumorscanner.com/fact-check/false-claim-dhaka-college-shibir-member-arrested-ducsu-election/166457